[mookiemookie]

I think gameplay-wise, it has the potential to be outstanding. From what I can see in the mods forum, it looks like people are just beginning to open up the secrets of scripting and how to use that. The campaign goals have already been adjusted. I am certain that someone will undertake a complete campaign re-write at some point. The coming patch is supposedly bringing the ability to add new ship types to the game. That's going to go a long way towards fixing my personal pet peeve of the game - lack of variety of merchants.

The crew management is a hole that I'm not sure can be fixed. After seeing some of the amazing things done to SH titles by people smarter than me, I've learned to never say never. But at this point, the ham handed attempt at an RPG system is a big flaw that doesn't have an easy solution that I personally can see.

But all in all, I think that yes, given the proper amount of attention by Ubi and the modders, we'll see SH5 take its place as a worthy successor to SH3/4